Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Harper's 'Convenient' Ethics

An "election pledge in the Conservatives' accountability program.

Under the heading "Strengthen the role of the Ethics Commissioner," the document says: "Stephen Harper will . . . prevent the prime minister from overruling the ethics commissioner on whether the prime minister, a minister, or an official is in violation of the conflict of interest code.""

Stephen Harper is shopping around for a replacement for Ethics Commisioner Shapiro. Shapiro is an officer of Parliament and answers to the House of Commons, not Harper, and Shapiro says he will take his direction only from the House.

It's funny how Stephen Harper and the conservatives have convenient ethics with regard to investigations.

What was good for the Liberals is apparently not good for Conservatives. Harper called for an investigation of the Liberals every single day, and is now apparently trying to avoid an investigation into his inducement for Emerson to cross the floor.

Harper was pretty loud about the "Grewal Affair". Remember Harper bleating about people stepping aside until accusations are investigated?

"While many Conservative lawmakers tried to distance themselves from Grewal, Stephen Harper, the Conservative Party leader, defended him and used the tapes to deliver more attacks against the government. He called on Murphy and Dosanjh to step aside until the accusations that they offered jobs for votes were settled. Other opposition leaders have also called on the two officials to go on leave."

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , TorontoMonday, Jun 20, 2005,Page 7

Harper is not so loud about his own shenanigans.

The Ottawa Citizen said:

"During the investigation, Mr. Harper put off meeting with Mr. Shapiro, who wanted to confirm some details about the Tory leader's tangential involvement in Mr. Grewal's adventure. They couldn't schedule an appointment between last August and November, the commissioner says, though Mr. Shapiro's questions were satisfactorily answered by one of Mr. Harper's close aides.

Mr. Harper should have found time. If he means to clean up government, he'll have to resist all the temptations presented to those in power, including the impulse to skip inconvenient meetings with officers of Parliament. Voters will respect a politician who admits to small failures, provided he commits no big ones. Mr. Harper should have told Mr. Shapiro whatever he knew about Mr. Grewal's activities, even if what he knew wasn't flattering."

"Mr. Harper's task as prime minister will be to stop the routine sleaziness in government at its source. He'll have to hold his MPs, his staff and himself to the very highest standards, and to come clean when they fall short. It won't be easy."

It has become clear this last week that one of the misconceptions which many of us are labouring under, is our idea that the recent federal election was about the election of MPs, and the ability of a political party which gained most seats, to decide who should be the Prime Minister of Canada.

Silly us! The election was not about that at all!

It is now clear from the defence of his actions in not cooperating with the officer of Parliament, the Ethics Commissioner, that Mr Harper was not appointed Prime Minister.

Move aside, Queen Elizabeth, and make room for our new monarch, Emperor Stephen the First.

I don't know about you people but I'm quaking in my booties. The man is clearly drunk with power. If he's acting like this now, Imagine what he would be like if he can fool Canadians into giving him a majority. (gulp) He'll probably have himself crowned...er...what's higher than an emperor? Oh yes of course, a dictator.Hail Harper!Yikes. Do we have to do a number on these guys or what?

Harper, southern oil money, and ethics: some more sticky things for Harper's New Tories to come clean on?

Let's listen to David Orchard of Politics Canada (08/03/2006)(my capitalization):

"The masters of spin around Harper knew that right-wing leaders don’t win federal elections in Canada. And voilà, virtually overnight he ceased to be one -- and the media appeared to swallow it all. Any attempt to point out Mr. Harper’s amply documented past was derisively dismissed as “negative.”

It remained for a former U.S. vice-president, Al Gore, to blow the whistle for Canadians. In an explosive interview from Park City, Utah, strikingly under reported in Canada, Mr. Gore said, “The election in Canada was partly about the tar sands projects in Alberta. And the financial interests behind the tar sands project poured a lot of money and support behind an ultra conservative leader in order to win the election and to protect its interests.”

Mr. Gore pointed out that one of the things the oil industry wants is Canada’s pullout from Kyoto.

As Brian Mulroney’s entourage emerges from the shadows into key cabinet and government positions, as the stunning and deafening silence grows regarding Mr. Mulroney’s receipt of large payments of cash from Karl-Heinz Schreiber despite his sworn testimony in court that he had “no dealings whatsoever” with Mr. Schreiber, the country waits for Mr. Harper’s next move and for Mr. Layton’s explanation of why his party opened the door for the Harper-Bloc alliance.

We wait also for the RCMP investigation into Mr. Gore’s allegations of foreign funds going to a Canadian political party, and into Mr. Schreiber’s statements which, if true, point to a prima facie case of perjury against Mr. Mulroney. Mr. Harper and his justice minister, Vic Toews, promised to “clean up” Canadian politics and “get tough on crime.” Here’s the perfect place to start."

Rather interesting, not so? Wonder when the Justice Minister will tell citizens about these two issues. Ethics is as ethics does.

The prime minister can select anyone to become minister! He could select Jake Layton while retaing his status as NDP leader. Asking Mr Emmerson is within this law, no breach of ethics occured. It was poor taste (and poor judgment) perhaps - but no breach of ethics!

Recall during the debates Harper said he would pass no law that would block floor-crossers - even despite being betrayed by Belinda. Give it up..he learned this from the beloved Liberals.